At work, five days a week and sometimes 18 hours a day -- to modify the look, feel, style and aesthetics of the channel -- Fahad loves striking a balance between "cerebrally challenging" work -- including Merchant-Ivory productions like The Deceivers, The Perfect Murder and Doll's Wedding (which he scripted) -- and populist bubblegum TV (after all, his BPL Oye and The Coca Cola Popaddum Show are household names).

Believing that one needs to exercise all lobes of the brain, Fahad has a track record ranging from more than 100 ads to documentaries made under his Bombay Talkies banner, which he took over seven years ago. Among his more striking documentaries was one for Shyam Ahuja durries. Called Timeless Warps, the film had him shooting inParis, New York, Benaras and Jaipur.

Besides being a well-made film because it had the Fahad Samar-touch, Timeless Warps was also good because of his fascination for the eclectic, which is evident in his Bombay Talkies office at Colaba. Besides a desk, up against the wall, Fahad's office has divans draped in Shyam Ahuja raw silk upholstery and their trademark durries. Film posters signed by directors who have worked with James Ivory adorn the office walls.

The ambience is unrestrictedly exotic. To think about a different "style of communication" each time, all Fahad needs is his desk and his mobile, an inseparable companion. "Well, channel business is about connectivity." No papers, no drawers filled with clutter. Just a clear mind. In fact, quite a few ideas come to him while he is driving down to his Andheri office.

On his desk there's also an antique Buddha head, a gift from a friend. "When things go wrong, I derive inspiration from this figure of tranquility." Even his new home in Colaba, wherehe'll move in next week, has been designed on the same lines. "My school of thought says that workplace is an extension of one's personality -- which, in my case, is 101 per cent music and 101 per cent Indian. Aakhir dil hai Hindustani."